Dodgers' Mookie Betts shares advice Kobe Bryant gave him

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Friday marks four years since Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas.

Bryant inspired countless fans and his incredible legacy will forever be part of Los Angeles sports culture.

The Dodgers' Mookie Betts called Bryant a "real life super hero" in an Instagram post from 2020. Betts talked with Eyewitness News about his best memory of Bryant and shared some advice the NBA icon gave him.

"I was struggling, and I remember calling him and asking 'How were you great all the time?' He kind of just explained make someone there remember you," Betts recalled. "No matter how good or bad you do, do something in that game to make someone there remember why you're Mookie Betts or Kobe Bryant or whoever it is."

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Both NBA coaches in L.A. - the Lakers' Darvin Ham and the Clippers' Ty Lue - have ties to Bryant.

Ham was an assistant coach on the Lakers during Bryant's final playing years.

"You still feels his presence in a lot of different areas, not just in basketball but in life," Ham said recently.

"You take away from that his work ethic was non-stop in terms of him trying to be the best at whatever he touched, and the way he diversified himself. To be able to win an Oscar - it's crazy. That's Kobe," Ham added.

Lue was Bryant's teammate early in their NBA careers and won two championships with him.

"He gave everything he had to the game of basketball, and that's kind of how I live my life. I owe everything to basketball, and that's kind of how Kobe lived his life," Lue said. "He wanted to be the best, he wanted to be the greatest."